


goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere

by little_alien_duck



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Crew as Family, Found Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29705460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_alien_duck/pseuds/little_alien_duck
Summary: a moment between team mom captain janeway and a couple of her officers who shedefinitelydoesn't view as her kids
Comments: 13
Kudos: 28





	goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere

She should’ve gone to sleep. It was two in the morning and her eyes were burning and the words of the most recent report she’d read were floating off the padd in front of her. But the reports had been piling up for the last three days and the list of things she needed to do tomorrow would be physically impossible to tackle during her shift. Kathryn Janeway should’ve gone to sleep, but instead she trudged to the mess hall to get another cup of coffee. 

She passed no one in the hall. Only the night shift was on duty, and everyone else was exhausted. The most recent battle with an unfriendly species and the subsequent repairs had everyone pulling double shifts. It was only today that things had started to seem normal again. 

The mess hall was quiet. It was cloaked in shadow. Most of the light came from the stars peering through the windows. Janeway almost thought it was empty. But a slight movement caught her eye, and she had to stifle a chuckle at what she saw before her. 

Piled onto one of the couches were four of her officers, all evidently asleep. Both Harry and B’Elanna rested their heads against Tom’s shoulders. Tom’s own cheek was pressed to B’Elanna’s hair. Next to her, Seven leaned straight back, her arms held stiffly at her sides. Janeway wasn’t sure she had ever slept before, but she was clearly doing it now. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was even. On Tom’s other side, Harry had one of his legs thrown across the arm of the couch and a padd dangling from his hand. The movement that caught Janeway’s eye had been it slipping slowly closer to the floor. Spread across the table in front of them were dozens of padds and nearly that many empty mugs. They had clearly been in the middle of a discussion when they drifted off.

Careful not to wake them, Janeway slid the padd from Harry’s fingers. It was a preliminary schematic to increase the strength of the deflector dish. Brilliant work, if only half complete. 

Janeway stifled a yawn as she set the padd on the table. She collected their empty mugs and took them to the kitchen. It seemed like such a shame to wake them. In the half light, there was a kind of peace the Delta Quadrant rarely allowed for. They looked like college kids at the oldest, a homework assignment spread out over a library table having lulled them to sleep. She couldn’t see the bags under their eyes or the days old scrape on Tom’s chin he hadn’t gotten around to patching up.

She didn’t get her cup of coffee. She smiled once more and left for her own quarters. The reports could wait until morning. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!


End file.
